Maybe you haven’t heard, but Florida’s climate has reason to celebrate. For 20 years, Florida has been hit with drought conditions – a trend that is seemingly shifting. The drought, though slightly interrupted by a few tropical storms, caused the state to lose many of its small ponds and smaller lakes, and also caused the nitrate levels in the water of Silver Springs to increase. Fortunately, a disruption in this drought pattern has occurred and things are (fingers crossed) back to normal. Florida is hoping that this rain return is not just a temporary teaser, but a long-lasting 15-20 year trend.

Wishful thinking? Maybe. But many forecasters do surmise a very rainy spring and summer for 2014. In fact, some say an unusually intense El Nino may be on the horizon, forming and lasting into 2015, which may bring even more rainfall.

Good news for Florida.

But potentially bad news for California.

Florida’s drought turnaround has been named the culprit of California’s extreme drought situation. California is in the midst of a worsening multi-year drought, which if all goes wrong, will follow in the footsteps of Florida’s drought. Things clearly aren’t trending in the right direction and, according to forecasters, aren’t expected to anytime soon.

Though there’s some hope that this possibly forming El Nino pattern may bring a wetter winter next year to California as well, there is really no concrete evidence on this actually happening. The truth is, drought tends to be a “creeping phenomenon” – a slow, gradual, and long-lasting disaster, with each year steadily seeing less and less rainfall.

Digging out of drought is tough. Solutions to relieve the situation are scarce. The only hope Californians really have to fall back on is an El Nino developing and bringing with it an extremely wet winter.

For California’s sake, here’s hoping!

Bankers South recognizes that farming and ranching is hard work, especially in times of grim weather conditions. Our goal is to assist in any way we can when it comes to farmland financing, helping to ease the process so you can focus on your farm’s day to day operations. Our AgAmerica lending program boasts ag land loans that align with various needs. To learn more, contact Bankers South. One of our agriculture loan experts will be in touch to aid you through the ag lending process.